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New A/C Lines Quoted, but not being Installed

I am replacing the furnace and A/C in my home. This was precipitated by a leak in my A/C. I needed 3 pounds of freon added a few months ago. Very expensive! Both the furnace and A/C are about 15 years old, so I decided to move forward with having them both replaced.

I got several quotes. Some of the quotes included replacing the A/C lines and some did not. My house provides a lot of installation challenges as the furnace, condenser and hot water tank are all in a little utility closet. The outside part of the A/C is on the other side of the house and the lines run through an attic that is like a crawl space type of attic.

The company that I chose gave a quote that said it included replacing the lines for the air conditioning. Today they began the install. As day 1 of the install came to an end, I asked about the lines being replaced as I could say they had not done this yet. The installers said that their work order said to reuse the existing lines. I showed them that my quote indicated that new lines would be installed. The installers said this would be a very large effort. I believe one of the installers said it would be about 3 days and that the difficulty was because the lines go through a wall to get to the attic. They thought it was a mistake made on the quote. They said that they would test for leaks as they finish the install tomorrow. If it didn't show a leak, they thought it wasn't necessary to replace the lines.

The quote was a very good price compared to the others and this company has a good reputation. The sales person told me they got a great price on the furnace. [Bryant 355CAV]

I too would demand new lines. If the salesman told you they were a part of the job I'd make sure it gets done. I haven't installed in a while, but I don't ever remember a residential lineset taking 3 days to install even though I've had a few that took darn near all day to get in.

I agree. Some contractors will promise the world but won't deliver. If they said they would change them, they better do so. I would not pay one cent o them until they perform what is on the contract. Everyone here is right, if you are switching from r22 to r410a and the lines can be changed they must. Please speak up and get what your supposed too. You are paying good money for a job that should be done right.

It takes 3 days to go through a wall? Our hammer drill will do the average brick, block, stone wall in minutes. Even an 8" poured concrete is an hour of hard hammering!

Yes, they drilled through a cinder block and a brick wall to do the venting for the furnace. I think the concern with the A/C lines was going from the ground floor up through the wall to the attic. The attic isn't over the utility room, but starts next to it...split level house.

I just wanted to find out from professionals if it was something you didn't feel was important. But I'm hearing everyone say that I should get it.

Yes, they drilled through a cinder block and a brick wall to do the venting for the furnace. I think the concern with the A/C lines was going from the ground floor up through the wall to the attic. The attic isn't over the utility room, but starts next to it...split level house.

I just wanted to find out from professionals if it was something you didn't feel was important. But I'm hearing everyone say that I should get it.

A mistake was likely made on the quote. Although they may agree to running a new line set, since the error was theirs, don't expect it to be pulled along the same route as the old line set. They'd probably have to run it up along the outside of the wall and penetrate through somewhere. This isn't typically cosmetically pleasing. The other option is to flush and re-use the old line set, which is perfectly ok to do when the existing line set size meets spec for the new system, and it doesn't have any leaks. This isn't a free service either, the man hours required and the flushing agent aren't donated to us. We try to cover all the bases all of the time, but in the real world people make mistakes. You should probably discuss this with the owner or salesman rather than with the installers.